1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an enlarged emitter electrode and a method for the manufacture thereof.
2. Background Art
An IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) is used in power converters, such as an inverter (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-135536). In order to improve the operating characteristics of the IGBT, a review of the structure of IGBT cells and the optimization of the wafer thicknesses have been carried out. However, the improvement of performances by such means is reaching a limit. Therefore, it has been examined to lower current density by enlarging the area of an emitter electrode relative to the area of a chip.